Hospital driving economic boom

Health-care corridor developing in Town of Wallkill

The opening of Orange Regional Medical Center's new hospital, set for Friday in the Town of Wallkill doesn't just mean a shiny new building. It's already bringing new businesses to the area, and it's likely to bring more as time goes on.

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By Christian Livermore

recordonline.com

By Christian Livermore

Posted Aug. 3, 2011 at 2:00 AM

By Christian Livermore
Posted Aug. 3, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Plans are well under way for revamping old camp...

By Christian LivermoreTimes Herald-Record

The opening of Orange Regional Medical Center's new hospital means, of course, the closing of the hospital's two old campuses.

But plans ...

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Plans are well under way for revamping old campuses

By Christian Livermore

Times Herald-Record

The opening of Orange Regional Medical Center's new hospital means, of course, the closing of the hospital's two old campuses.

But plans have been in the works for some time to find new uses for the properties.

The Arden Hill campus has been leased to Orange-Ulster BOCES. The organization plans to use the facility for classes, health careers training, work-force development and administrative services.

BOCES is awaiting final approval from the New York state Education Department, which is expected to come through any day, said Terry Olivo, BOCES' chief operating officer. Once the hospital vacates the campus and completes its move, BOCES will take over the building.

"They obviously need time to finalize their move of equipment and materials and fixtures, and so we're looking at the September-October time frame," Olivo said.

The first BOCES department to move in will be administrative support programs, in January or February, with instructional programs beginning to follow in September 2012. It will be a year or two before all the programs planned for the new location have moved in.

Special education instructional programs will remain in their current satellite locations in component school districts, Olivo said.

BOCES is also talking with Orange County officials about the potential of moving some compatible government services into the new location, such as social or mental health services.

"That's just in the talking stage, but we've talked with Orange County officials, and there certainly is reception to the concept, and we will certainly move forward with those discussions," Olivo said.

In the meantime, developer Tony Danza is working on plans to turn the hospital's Horton campus into a health-care complex tentatively to include a skilled nursing/assisted living facility, a medical school campus and housing for medical students and faculty.

"There's nothing executed, but it's all in the process," Danza said.

He would not disclose what organizations he was in talks with, citing confidentiality. He expects the sale of the Horton campus to close in October or November, and for the new tenants to start moving in six to 12 months after that.

The opening of Orange Regional Medical Center's new hospital, set for Friday in the Town of Wallkill doesn't just mean a shiny new building. It's already bringing new businesses to the area, and it's likely to bring more as time goes on.

It's not just that the hospital employs some 2,500 people. It's the medical services that will open nearby to cater to patients. It's also the lunches hospital employees and visitors might grab in the neighborhood, the tank of gas they will buy at the Quick Chek that opened recently down the street, or the trip to the mall after work because it's now just about two miles away.

"I think what you'll see along East Main Street is a whole corridor of medical services developing there," said Orange Regional President and CEO Scott Batulis. "In addition to the new gas station, you will see other doctors who will be looking to move to the area once their leases are up."

A look at a report done for the hospital by the Healthcare Association of New York State shows the kind of money a hospital can generate. The report found the hospital's two current campuses were responsible for $463.7 million in direct spending in the community, including salaries and supply purchases, and another $21.8 million in state and local tax revenues.

Watch what's happening around the area where Orange Regional's new hospital is about to open.

Already two hearing aid companies are close by — Lawrence Hearing and Hillman General Hearing Aids. There's also a LabCorp and Orange Radiology Associates MRI of Wallkill.

And other businesses are opening to cater to employees' needs. New York Scrubs opened in the Galleria at Crystal Run in June 2010. Owner Kim Granzow said the new hospital was her "main motivator."

"I thought about it, and I saw that hospital being built, and I said if I'm ever going to do it, I've got to do it now," she said. "I've got a ready-made market at the hospital." She's offering a permanent, 10 percent discount to employees of Orange Regional and some other local health-care providers.

A new, 230-suite luxury hotel and conference center in the works on nearby Crotty Road is slated to offer extended-stay suites. Developer Eric Hosdaghian says the apartments will be ideal, both for families coming from out of town to visit loved ones in the hospital, and for doctors and other professionals moving to the community.

Local real estate brokers also expect the hospital's arrival to help in marketing property for sale nearby.

Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage, John J. Lease Realtors, Real Estate United, ReMax and R.J. Smith Realty all have properties listed within a mile or two of the new hospital.

"The medical corridor obviously is established. There's no question in my mind there will be spinoff, though it's impossible to predict how much," said R.J. Smith, principal of Real Estate Solutions. "Obviously all the professionals in the medical field that use the facilities at the hospital, they're prospects to be in that area. And different businesses that serve not just the population but maybe the health-care industry."

Of course, medical professionals moving in to spaces near the new hospital will likely result in vacancies near the old campuses in Middletown and Goshen.

Stephen Perfit, managing director of the Hudson Valley office of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage, said those spaces might be rented by startup professionals. "Those may have to be absorbed by different users, and they're less modern than some of the newer facilities," he said, "which may mean price pressure on some of the landlords."

The closure of a hospital can have a significant ripple effect on the surrounding community. For instance, since St. Vincent's Hospital closed in Manhattan last year, some 70 businesses in the immediate vicinity have closed, said William McCrudden, a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State.

"That whole neighborhood around it died off. Businesses that have been there for 40 years are closing down," he said. "You lose 20,000 employees or something, they're pretty much a captive audience for a lot of stores."

But officials in the town and village of Goshen aren't worried about the economic impact the closure of the Arden Hill campus will have on the community. The move might cause a slight reduction in water and sewer revenues, said village Mayor Kyle Roddey, but since Orange-Ulster BOCES will be moving into the space when the hospital moves out, the loss will likely be negligible. And while local restaurants will lose the business of any hospital employees who might take their meals off campus, BOCES employees will likely take their place at the table.

"I don't think it's going to have a major impact," he said. "I think there will be nuance changes. Water and sewer revenue will be down slightly, but in terms of this being an identity changing thing for the Village of Goshen, I just don't see that."

The biggest impact for Goshen residents might be the slightly longer distance they will have to travel if they need the hospital. "I know a lot of us are kind of nervous," Supervisor Douglas Bloomfield said. "But at the same time, that's a tremendous facility they're building, and it's not that much farther away."